Govt urged to ban child domestic labour

Civil society asks govt to survey as to why children resort to domestic labour

PESHAWAR: With cases of child domestic workers being violently abused by the employers regularly grabbing headlines, the federal and provincial governments were urged to impose an immediate ban on child domestic labour by including it in the schedule of banned professions.

This was urged by Group Development Pakistan, a non-profit organization in a statement on World Day Against Child Labour. The group urged the government to conduct a comprehensive survey on child domestic labour and publish a report as soon as possible as to why these children resort to domestic labour.

It further said that imposition of the ban on child domestic labour must begin from the homes of government employees and elected lawmakers, it demanded.

Domestic child workers left at exploiters’ mercy

It further said that domestic child labour is one of the worst forms of child labour that exists. In January 2010, after the murder of Shazia Maseeh, who was a child domestic helper, there have been at least 100 reports of violence and abuse against child domestic workers which were reported to the media. The trend, it lamented, continues to be unresolved despite the reporting.

Furthermore, they said that around 100 child domestic helpers have been killed within the homes of their owners. These cases show that child domestic labour is one of the deadliest forms of child labour in the country, the statement added.

Despite the severity of the situation, the federal and provincial governments have failed to respond to the situation, the group said and urged them to take practical steps under Article 25-A of the Constitution and provide free and compulsory education to all children from five to 16-years-of-age.

This, they argued, will ensure that children who are of school-going age, end up in schools instead of being employed.

Over 20 million children in the country are currently not going to school while an estimated 10 million are employed in various professions.

It is critical to note that amongst 10 households in the posh areas of big cities, at least one house has a child employed as domestic labour.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2020.